The intestinal mucosal barrier serves as a critical defense system essential for nutrient absorption, maintenance of intestinal microecology, and immune homeostasis. Growing evidence from clinical and interdisciplinary studies has established intestinal mucosal barrier injury as a complex and multifactorial condition, drawing research interest across numerous scientific fields. This review provides a multidisciplinary synthesis, integrating insights from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Nutrition, Environmental science, Psychology, Genetics and Food science to deconstruct its complex pathophysiology. We systematically consolidate these diverse perspectives to elucidate disease mechanisms, clinical manifestations, and detection strategies. Moreover, we propose a comprehensive framework to guide future research and inform the development of effective, integrated therapeutic approaches.

Beauveria bassiana is one of the most widely used entomopathogenic fungi in insect pest management, and the need for rapid and reproducible quantification of fungal conidia to monitor process performance and to quality control products during biopesticide production is imperative. Conventional methodologies, such as hemocytometer counting and plate dilution assays, are time consuming, laborious and subject to significant operator-to-operator variability. Although optical methods have been increasingly explored for estimating fungal propagule concentrations, species-specific calibration, suspension stability, wavelength selection, and independent validation remain important for routine applications. In this study, we developed an agar–water-assisted UV–visible spectrophotometric calibration protocol for estimating conidial concentration using B. bassiana as a model entomopathogenic fungus. A 0.1% (w/v) agar–water suspension was used in order to get homogeneous, stable dispersions of conidia for optical measurements. Calibration of conidia concentration was accomplished through reliable optical density (OD) values measured at wavelengths 500 nm, 530 nm, 560 nm, 600 nm, and 650 nm. Linear correlations were observed across the tested wavelengths, with the highest goodness of fit for the model at 650 nm (R² = 0.9907). The resulting regression equation, conidia concentration (×10⁷ mL⁻¹) = 4.184 × OD₆₅₀—0.12450, has been independently verified with separate conidia batches, resulting in acceptable relative errors ranging from 13.78% and 18.98%. This agar–water-assisted OD₆₅₀ calibration model provides a practical and species-specific tool for the standardization of conidial dosages in biopesticide research, facilitating the reliable evaluation and application of entomopathogenic fungi within integrated pest management systems.

Dolichospermum sp. FACHB-82, a representative harmful bloom-forming cyanobacterium, has garnered widespread attention in freshwater ecosystems due to its high environmental adaptability and potential for rapid proliferation. Phenyllactic acid (PLA) is a structurally defined aromatic organic acid with known antimicrobial activity, but its inhibitory effects on FACHB-82 and their photosynthetic apparatus remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the concentration-dependent effects of PLA on biomass accumulation, photosynthetic pigment production and photosynthetic activity in FACHB-82. The findings revealed that PLA induced a concentration-dependent biphasic response on biomass accumulation and photosynthetic pigment synthesis of FACHB-82. Chlorophyll a fluorescence analyses revealed that high-concentration PLA exposure disrupted functions of PSII at multiple levels, including reduced PSII performance, enhanced Q_A⁻ accumulation, accelerated reaction center closure, decreased energetic connectivity, impaired donor side function, and restricted downstream electron transport. Although NPQ was significantly upregulated under high PLA stress, dark-recovery analysis demonstrated that the increased non-photochemical energy dissipation was accompanied by incomplete recovery of PSII photochemical efficiency. Our finding, for the first time, provides physiological insight into the anticyanobacterial activity of PLA for the control of FACHB-82 growth, thus offering a theoretical basis for the control of cyanobacterial blooms.